Removable intra-oral corrective anti-snoring device

ABSTRACT

The present invention relates to a comfortable type removable tongue position corrective anti-snoring &amp; anti-suffocating device. The device is made of wire or band material provided with suitable elasticity and rigidity, including at least a fixer, an upper force piece which is connected with the fixer and lower force piece. The device is mostly applied on upper jaw. The force end of the upper force piece is designed to be suitable to the normal configuration of the soft palate palatine, and acts on the portion in front of the sensitive position of the soft palate to raise up the soft palate palatine and uvula upward/upward and backward suitably without causing nausea and discomfort of peripheral tissue. The force end of the lower force piece is designed to be suitable to the normal configuration of the big tongue, and acts on the portion in front of the sensitive position of the posterior of the tongue to press the big tongue downward/front downward without causing discomfort and nausea. Thus, depending on the co-action of the upper and lower force piece, the blocked respiratory tract could be expanded to prevent snore and remit sleep apnea syndrome.

This application is a national phase entry and claims priority fromPatent Cooperation Treaty application PCT/CN2004/000621, filed Jun. 9,2004, which claims priority from Chinese patent application 03129136.8,filed Jun. 9, 2003, the contents of all of which are incorporated hereinby reference.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a snore curing field, especiallyrelates to a comfortable type removable tongue position correctiveanti-snoring & anti-suffocating device for preventing snore andremitting sleep apnea syndrome (i.e. the so-called the snoring withsuffocating).

BACKGROUND ART

The snore is a rebarbative but very familiar physiological phenomenon,it results in not only affecting other sleeping person in the same oradjacent room, but also an apnea and even suffocation for short ofoxygen, then induces many diseases, harms to health, reduces theefficiency of work and learning and till the life. The basic reason forsnore is an obstructive respiratory tract, people in clinic found thatmost of the snore is caused by too width/long/thickness/flabbydistortion of the intra-oral organs (mainly big tongue base and uvula)to block wholly or partially the nasopharyngeal cavity. The intra-oralstructure of each people may be slowly deformed along with the increasedage, increased fat and flabby muscle etc. The palate and tongue form anatural barrier in the mouth to assist the food swallowing and airtransferring, if the palate is gradually drooping and the big tongue isgradually raising, the inner form of mouth would be changed to result inblocking the tract, and form a “whistle” effect, the snoring is thusproduced. The curing method for snore includes operation, medicine andpositive press breath machine assistant and orthopedics method. Amongwhich, the orthopedics method is simple, practical, no traumatic and noside-effect thus has a well development in the future.

The former utility model (90215295) discloses an orthopedics method ofNiTi shape memory alloy anti-snoring device, it is made from the NiTishape memory alloy material to manufacture a force piece that suitableto the normal tongue base or soft palate, and acts on the affected part(i.e. the big tongue base and uvula) of the patient's body to stop thesnoring. It has, however, the following drawbacks in practice: (1) itoften suffers from the upward pushing force from the big tongue basesince it is mostly applied on lower jaw, the pushing force is conductedthrough collar to the teeth and produce some bad pain as pulling outteeth; (2) since it directly acts on the uvula position, moreover afterresearch people find that the other tissue near the uvula (e.g. tonguepalate bow and palate tonsil) is more sensitive and easy to cause itchand nausea; (3) since it acts directly on the big tongue base, and afterresearch we find that the big tongue base itself is specially sensitiveand easier to cause pain and nausea. All the three drawbacks above areseverely affecting its application, so the patent is not practical withonly 1 to 2 suitable patients from 100 patients.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The purpose of the present invention is to overcome the above drawbacks,providing a comfortable type removable tongue position correctiveanti-snoring & anti-suffocating device, which indeed makes patientseasily adapt and accept it with the ideal anti-snoring andanti-suffocating effects.

The technical scheme of the present invention is as follows: it makesuse of wire or band material provided with suitable elasticity andrigidity to manufacture a comfortable removable tongue positioncorrective anti-snoring & anti-suffocating device which mostly appliedon upper jaw, it includes at least a fixer, an upper force piece andlower force piece, each end (i.e. non-force end) of the upper and lowerforce piece is connected with the fixer, the other end (i.e. force end)of the said upper force piece is designed to be suitable to the normalconfiguration of the soft palate palatine, the head is designed to belocated on the portion in front of the sensitive position of the softpalate palatine, it could suitably raise up the palatine and uvula (i.e.“small tongue”) upward/upward and backward without causing discomfortand nausea of peripheral tissue; the other end (i.e. force end) of thesaid lower force piece is designed to be suitable to the normalconfiguration of the posterior of the tongue, the head is designed to belocated on the portion in front of the sensitive position of theposterior of the big tongue, and could press the big tonguedownward/front downward without causing discomfort and nausea. In thisway, the blocked respiratory tract could be enlarged, and on the premiseof comfort, it works to prevent snoring and remit sleep apnea syndrome(i.e. the suffocating).

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is an illustrative view showing an NiTi shape memory alloyanti-snoring device according to one embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 2 is an illustrative view showing a 1st embodiment of thecomfortable type removable tongue position corrective anti-snoringdevice according to the present invention;

FIG. 3 is an illustrative view showing a 2nd embodiment of thecomfortable type removable tongue position corrective anti-snoringdevice according to the present invention;

FIG. 4 is an illustrative view showing a 3rd embodiment of thecomfortable type removable tongue position corrective anti-snoringdevice according to the present invention;

FIG. 5 is an illustrative view showing a 4th embodiment of thecomfortable type removable tongue position corrective anti-snoringdevice according to the present invention;

FIG. 6 is an illustrative view showing a 5th embodiment of thecomfortable type removable tongue position corrective anti-snoringdevice according to the present invention;

FIG. 7 is an illustrative view showing a 6th embodiment of thecomfortable type removable tongue position corrective anti-snoringdevice according to the present invention;

FIG. 8 is an illustrative view showing a 7th embodiment of thecomfortable type removable tongue position corrective anti-snoringdevice according to the present invention;

FIG. 9 is an illustrative view showing an 8th embodiment of thecomfortable type removable tongue position corrective anti-snoringdevice according to the present invention;

FIG. 10 is an illustrative view showing a 9th embodiment of thecomfortable type removable tongue position corrective anti-snoringdevice according to the present invention;

FIG. 11 is an illustrative view showing a 10th embodiment of thecomfortable type removable tongue position corrective anti-snoringdevice according to the present invention;

FIG. 12 is an illustrative view showing an 11th embodiment of thecomfortable type removable tongue position corrective anti-snoringdevice according to the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF SPECIFIC EMBODIMENTS

In the figures, 1 is the fixer, 2 is the upper force piece, 3 is thelower force piece, 4 is the support plate, 5 is the base support (tonguesupport/palate support/collar support), 6 is the link bar (tonguebar/palate bar/cheek bar/lip bar), 7 is the direct fixer (collar/lip bowetc), 8 is the indirect fixer (tongue plate/palate plate/pole etc), 9 isthe additional functional part (guide plate/occlusal plate/occlusal padetc), 10 is the circle fixer (ring/coronet etc), 11 is the link bar, 12is the connecter, 13 is the adjuster, 14 is the teeth, 15 is the clip,16 is the connecting wire, 17 is the group clips, 18 is the axial clip,19 is the attachment/magnetic implant, 20 is the open dental prosthesis,21 is the concealed dental prosthesis, 22 is tooth cover.

Referring to FIG. 2, the comfortable type removable tongue positioncorrective anti-snoring device according to the present invention ismostly applied on upper jaw, including fixer 1, upper force piece 2 andlower force piece 3, the upper force piece and lower force piece 3 aremade of material (preferably high elastic alloy wire or band) providedwith suitable elasticity and rigidity. The connecter 12 of the non-forceend of the upper force piece 2 is embedded in the fixer 1, the other endi.e. force end is designed to be suitable to the normal configuration ofthe soft palate palatine, the head is designed to be located on theportion in front of the sensitive position of the soft palate palatineand little withstand it. Thus, on the premise of not causing discomfortand nausea of peripheral tissue, it could bring an externally reinforcedforce to the soft palate palatine to prevent snoring. The connecter 12of the non-force end of the lower force piece 3 is also embedded in thefixer 1, but the other end i.e. force end is normally bowed from middlelip side toward far end away the lip side like a bowed nose bridge alongthe palate, the bottom of bridge is designed to be suitable to thenormal configuration of the posterior of the big tongue, the head isdesigned to be located on the portion in front of the sensitive positionof the posterior of the big tongue, and press the big tonguedownward/front downward, thus, on the premise of not causing discomfortand nausea of peripheral tissue, the tongue base is held effectively toprevent shrinking backward and press the palatine and uvula to cause thenasal cavity blocking and produce suffocating and snoring, and theco-action of the upper and lower force piece 2,3 could remarkablyenlarge and keep the intra-oral effective inner space, thus couldincrease the breath efficiency and prevent developing sleep apneasyndrome. To divide the force of the force piece 2,3 onto the contactposition evenly, a support plate 4 is set on the head portion of theforce end of the upper and lower force piece 2,3. The support plate 4 isgenerally made from synthetic resin (plastic etc) and/or soft polymermaterial (silicon rubber etc), and its size should be suitable to theposition.

In the comfortable type removable tongue position correctiveanti-snoring device according to the present invention, the fixer 1 mayhave various forms. As FIG. 2 shows, it is only a normal form, whichsuitable for snoring patients with good teeth fixing. The fixer includesbase support 5 (here is a palate support), link bar 6 (palate bar) anddirect fixer 7 (collar etc), the whole anti-snoring device is fixed ontothe suitable position of the upper jaw of the patient. And the indirectfixer 8 (palate plate/pole etc) may be used in need to reinforce fixingand safety factor.

Referring to FIG. 3, it shows a comfortable type removable tongueposition corrective anti-snoring device according to the presentinvention including at least the base support 5 and link bar 6 (here isa lip bar). Its base support may be made of plastic with soft polymermaterial (silicon rubber etc) covering on it to increase the flexibilitywith the palate; In terms of need, the palate side may add the link bar6 (palate bar) to increase rigidity and/or decrease base support's area;Vertical curve may be set on the lip bar for dismounting. This kind ofthe anti-snoring device is suitable for the snoring patient with goodteeth layout of palate.

Referring to FIG. 4, it shows a comfortable type removable tongueposition corrective anti-snoring device according to the presentinvention, which includes at least base support 5 (here is a collarsupport) and direct fixer 7 (clip 15, connecting wire 16, group clips17, axial clip 18 etc). The lip-cheek side and tongue-palate side of thecollar support may respectively make use of the partial link bar (lipbar/tongue palate bar) to increase the rigidity and/or decrease basesupport's area, an indirect fixer 8 (palate plate/pole etc) may also beadded to reinforce fixing, this kind of the anti-snoring device issuitable for the snoring patient with poor fixing, the force piece 3 issimilar to a semi-tube with a seam in middle of it as figure shows.

Referring to FIG. 5, it shows a comfortable type removable tongueposition corrective anti-snoring device according to the presentinvention, which uses at least the additional functional part 9 (here isan occlusal pad) as the fixer. It requires that the surface of theocclusal pad should have a deep groove to cover the tooth tip andcorona. To increase rigidity, the link bar (tongue palate bar/lip bar)may be set and the back area may be closed. This kind of theanti-snoring device is suitable for the snoring patient with good teethfixing or small height.

Referring to FIG. 6, it shows a comfortable type removable tongueposition corrective anti-snoring device according to the presentinvention which uses at least the open dental prosthesis as the fixer.Its tongue-palate side may also be added a link bar (tongue palate bar)to decrease the base support's area. This kind of the anti-snoringdevice is suitable for the snoring patient with non dental jaw.

Referring to FIG. 7, it shows a comfortable type removable tongueposition corrective anti-snoring device according to the presentinvention which uses at least the coving dental prosthesis or magneticimplant dental prosthesis as the fixer, characterized in that it hasparts to form a complete set with gum attachment/button tract ormagnetic implant 19. It is suitable for the snoring patient with badteeth layout or high fixing requirement. Its back area may be closed,and added a link bar (tongue palate bar etc) or netlike bracket toincrease rigidity.

Referring to FIG. 8, it shows a comfortable type removable tongueposition corrective anti-snoring device according to the presentinvention which uses at least the concealed dental prosthesis as thefixer. A base support (plastic) may be set on the tongue palate side toincrease rigidity and embed the link bar (tongue palate bar etc), andits back area may be closed. This kind of the anti-snoring device issuitable for the snoring patient with non dental jaw and less teeth ofhigh quality requirement.

Referring to FIG. 9, it shows a comfortable type removable tongueposition corrective anti-snoring device according to the presentinvention which uses at least the link bar 6 (here is a tongue palatebar) and circle fixer 10 (ring/coronet etc) as the fixer. The non-forceend of the force piece is connected with the circle fixer 10 in asuitable way. This kind of the anti-snoring device is suitable for thesnoring patient with good bow and teeth gap.

Referring to FIG. 10, it shows a comfortable type removable tongueposition corrective anti-snoring device according to the presentinvention which uses at least the tooth cover of the upper and lowerjaws and cheek side link bar 11 as the fixer. A base support (plastic)may be set on the tongue palate side, and the link bar (tongue palatebar) may be embedded in the plastic base support. This kind of theanti-snoring device is suitable for the snoring patient with theshrinking backward of the lower jaw and abnormal tongue position.

It should noticed that, the upper force piece 2 and lower force piece 3are the most special parts of the anti-snoring device, enough elasticityand suitable rigidity are both extremely important, any one of which isindispensable. Meanwhile, the suitable thickness or diameter isimportant also, it may directly affect the elasticity. In design, theforce piece 2,3 may be connected with the link bar 6, or separated asFIG. 12 shows; it may use same material and size or different materialand size. The force end of the force piece 3 may point directly to theend position in form of spring, single wire and band or spring tube (asFIG. 11 and FIG. 4 shows), or indirectly to the end position (as FIG. 5and FIG. 8 shows); The middle of the force piece 2,3 may at least havean adjuster 13 to adjust the length and angle as FIG. 12 shows.Meanwhile, the link bar 6 may be a tongue bar, palate bar, cheek bar,lip bar etc; the direct fixer 7 may be a clip and lip bow etc; theindirect fixer 8 may be a tongue plate, jaw plate, pole etc; theadditional functional part 9 may be a guide plate, occlusal plate orocclusal pad etc.

The comfortable type removable tongue position corrective anti-snoringdevice above has a good clinic effect with a better design result, ithas wider applicable range with a better effect for more than 98% from100 patients.

Although various exemplary embodiments of the invention have beendisclosed, it should be apparent to those skilled in the art thatvarious changes and modifications can be made which will achieve some ofthe advantages of the invention without departing from the true scope ofthe invention.

1. A comfortable type removable tongue position corrective anti-snoring& anti-suffocating device, characterized in that, which includes atleast a fixer (1), an upper force piece (2) connecting with the fixer(1) and a lower force piece (3), the said fixer (1) is mainly located atthe upper jaw or lower jaw together, the force end of the said upperforce piece (2) is designed to be suitable to the normal configurationof the soft palate palatine, its head is designed to be located on theportion in front of the sensitive position of the soft palate palatine,it could suitably raise up the soft palate palatine and uvulaupward/upward and backward without causing discomfort and nausea ofperipheral tissue; the force end of the said lower force piece (3) isdesigned to be suitable to the normal configuration of the posterior ofthe tongue, its head is designed to be located on the portion in frontof the sensitive position of the posterior of the big tongue, and couldpress the big tongue downward/front downward without causing discomfortand nausea of peripheral tissue; the said upper and lower force piece(2) and (3) are made of suitable elastic and rigid material with a gapbetween them to enlarge the intra-oral inner space i.e. intra-oral tractto increase the efficiency of breath.
 2. The comfortable type removabletongue position corrective anti-snoring & anti-suffocating deviceaccording to claim 1, wherein the said upper and lower force piece (2,3)are designed to point/reach directly to the target, or point/reachindirectly to the target; especially the said lower force piece (3) hasa bowed nose-like bridge, or point/reach to the stipulated position ontongue with a semi-tube shape, or point directly to the stipulatedposition on tongue with shape of wire or band or spring.
 3. Thecomfortable type removable tongue position corrective anti-snoring &anti-suffocating device according to claim 1, wherein the said upperforce piece (2) and/or lower force piece (3) are at least made of wireor band material the wire or band material has suitable thickness ordiameter.
 4. The comfortable type removable tongue position correctiveanti-snoring & anti-suffocating device according to claim 3, wherein thesaid upper force piece (2) and/or lower force piece (3) are made ofelastic wire and/or band.
 5. The comfortable type removable tongueposition corrective anti-snoring & anti-suffocating device according toany one of claim 3, wherein the top portion of the force end of the saidupper force piece (2) and/or lower force piece (3) may have a suitablesized support plate (4), the said support plate (4) may be made fromsynthetic resin and/or soft polymer material.
 6. The comfortable typeremovable tongue position corrective anti-snoring & anti-suffocatingdevice according to claim 4, wherein the said fixer (1) may be made ofat least any one of the base support (5), link bar (6), direct fixer(7), indirect fixer (8), additional functional part (9); its materialmay be at least any one of synthetic resin, metal, soft polymermaterial, concealed dental prosthesis material.
 7. The comfortable typeremovable tongue position corrective anti-snoring & anti-suffocatingdevice according to claim 4, wherein the said fixer may be made ofcovering dental prosthesis or tooth cover or magnetic implant dentalprosthesis, or at least made of link bar (6) and circle fixer (10)connected with link bar (6).
 8. The comfortable type removable tongueposition corrective anti-snoring & anti-suffocating device according toany one of claim 7, wherein each cheek side may has a link bar (11)which could work to move the jaws in case of setting the said fixer (1)on the upper and lower jaws simultaneously.
 9. The comfortable typeremovable tongue position corrective anti-snoring & anti-suffocatingdevice according to any one of claim 8, wherein the elongation part(i.e. connector 12) of the non-force end of the upper and lower forcepiece (2,3) may be connected with the link bar (6), or separated; it mayuse same material and size, or different material and size.
 10. Thecomfortable type removable tongue position corrective anti-snoring &anti-suffocating device according to any one of claim 9, wherein themiddle of the said upper and lower force piece (2,3) may at least havean adjuster (13) to adjust the length and position in clinic.